Hakumei Rising
by Ryurasuke
Summary: It has been many years since the fall of the legendary Naruto Uzumaki. As with all ninjutsu, the shinobi just seem to grow stronger and stronger. But there is a darkness on the horizon. Naruto tried to usher in an era of peace, but there are many who disagree with how he made his attempt.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright everybody, I decided that I didn't particularly like this story, chapter two seemed too much like the actual Naruto storyline, like I was just renaming them. So I've decided to abandon that part to it and go more my own style, hopefully.**

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Naruto Uzumaki, the legend of Konohagakure, son of the even more legendary Yellow Flash Minato Uzumaki. Konohagakure, thought of by many villages as a disgrace due to their happy lifestyles and pleasant attitudes, manages to consistently produce superb shinobi and kunoichi alike that always manage to overcome any threat that the village faces. It has been their pride and joy for many years to be among the most powerful ninja villages.

Now however, there are many more villages that have sprung up during the era of peace. Most are just quick, spontaneous uprisings that are subsequently squashed within a few short months at most. One of these villages was the exception to that rule. They were founded on a small isle just outside the Land of Fire.

This village was known as Bochigakure, the Village Hidden in the Graveyard, the Crypt Village. Within a year of its founding, Bochigakure rose in might to almost match the five great villages. Another year and they were feared as much as, if not more than the Village Hidden in the Mist. For, while each of the nations was known to have many kekkei genkai, and stereotypical nature elements that were associated with each village, water with Kirigakure, wind with Sunagakure, so on and so forth.

Unlike them, Bochigakure was different. The vast majority of the shinobi found there have a kekkei genkai of some sort or are masters of hiden techniques stolen from other village, and these talents are all associated with death. From chakra vampires, to necrotic touches, resurrecting the dead, using the corpses are puppets, even to the point of self-mutilation beyond healing capacity. This is a village founded in death by those who are dead.

Outcasts from other villages, missing-nin of all ranks, all were accepted into the village as a sanctuary of sorts. By accepting this people into their village, the village was able to incorporate and improve on their techniques, making new kekkei genkai through precise genetic manipulation by some select masters of the craft, and even most powerful hiden abilities by subtle alterations.

In no time at all, Bochigakure went from being unknown into a village worthy of having their own kage, who was nominated unanimously and accepted into the kage summit in the same year. The military might of the Land of Death, the Village Hidden in the Crypt, proved enough of a threat that it gave pause to the other nations.

The village had an incredibly strategic position, located above and intertwined with a vast mausoleum of tombs and massive graveyards where their dead had long been buried within vast caverns undermining the island. A large petrified forest surrounds the village and the land below, taking up much of the land where the graveyards stand. Within these labyrinthine pathways of the dead are a myriad of monsters, long since thought to have perished from the world. A military campaign against Bochigakure would need to be immense in order to have a lasting effect, and any campaign of that size would only make these villages appear weak in the eyes of the people who hire shinobi, while making Bochigakure appear even more impressive.

Among these creatures are many thought to only have ever been legends, such as the kirin. One of the most populous beings is the deadly cerberus who thrive in the molten fields and burial grounds.

A traveler with no fear could go many miles almost directly down, as well as in all directions under the seas, for what seems like forever and never see even half of what is down there. Many generations have spent their entire lives attempting to create maps of the underworld they know, but these maps never seem accurate, as if the tunnels shift and move in order to ensure that they will never be fully explored. In all of the commonly explored areas there are rows of torches to light the way, but many of the ninja attempt to prove themselves worthy of the title by traveling farther than that deep into the darkness.

Some of these souls have returned shaken to insanity, making claims about truly dangerous creatures that haven't been fully confirmed. There have even been rumors that the dragon species isn't extinct, but rather that some few specimen survive and thrive in the darkness of the Land of the Dead.

These rumors remain unconfirmed, but the very idea of it makes many adventurers desire to travel down into the depths, even from other villages. Very few of these native adventurers survive to return to the safety of the village's hands, and even fewer of the foreigners make it back.

The other five major villages still prosper, although many of their highest ranked missions are being stolen by Bochigakure, which has become powerful enough that breaking their hold now would take too much effort to dispose them. The five main villages still dominate the field, but hold a wary respect for the power held within Bochigakure's dark holdings.

Many years have passed since the age of Naruto Uzumaki, and even now, most of the villages are slowly weakening, while Bochigakure only grows more powerful. A scant few other villages followed the guide of Bochigakure and struck out on their own, to much lesser effect, but still enough to disrupt the economies of the other villages.

In the village of Konohagakure, peace has reigned since Naruto's dominion of the title of Hokage, and now the eighth Hokage, his successor Gentama Uchiha, his godson, is the leader of the village. His granddaughter Harumi Uzumaki is one of the most promising new students under a master jonin instructor, one of the best, but at the same time most distressing shinobi in the entire village: Siras Cortage. She is treated the same as the other students, a daring method that frightens many of the villagers because of the volume of implicit disrespect, but Siras holds little care for any but tangible reasons for respect.

In the village of Kirigakure, the thirteenth Mizukage is now in charge. The past thirty years have seen the village divided in two in a destructive civil war that has halted their progress and caused them to regress slightly technologically, but their military still remains supreme. The latest Mizukage, of the village half that rose in revolution, goes by the name of Tsunami, with all former details having been erased to ensure his safety in his office. Within his employ are a new set of the legendary Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. But even worse is the already infamous Zero-Tailed Beast. Only a genin, Akuma Yokai is the secret weapon of the Mizukage, but very little is known about the person behind the name, save that he is rumored to be even more dangerous than the great Sage of the Six Paths.

Sunagakure is still the proud holder of the One-Tailed Kukaku, which still entails the mighty power and unique talents to that tailed beast. But now the holder is even mightier, being trained in hiden arts of the village equally. Kinshiro Sai, a very melancholic and troubled boy, he shares much in common with the late Kazekage Gaara. Like Gaara, Kinshiro was created to be a deadly weapon used as an assassin's blade by the kage. He was raised by the village as a whole, without ever really knowing his true family. There are very few that he feels comfortable in speaking with, but unlike most secret weapons, this one is shared openly. The one-tailed kukaku gives him the power to control sand and even allows him the quick shield of sand to arise when he finds himself in danger. He also has talents in the village's hiden technique of puppet mastery. He is an incredibly talented and deadly boy.

Iwagakure is struggling, without a secret weapon of their own they are slowly beginning to fall behind the other nations in power and reputation. The village of stone is negatively losing out among the nations and has even fallen far enough that Bochigakure appears to be surpassing them.

Kumogakure is in similar straits, lacking any sort of a dangerous weapon. They compensate for this by severely increasing the abilities shown through each and every one of their shinobi. Their army is by far the most powerful in the land now, rivaled only remotely by the mighty Kirigakure army, but still vastly superior.

There is also another nation just now becoming a real candidate. Takigakure. One of the smaller nations that has never really stood tall in the grand scheme of things. Now though, there is somebody who really stands to change that. His name is Ragnell Sushai. He is a genius vastly more intelligent than many jonin while still at only the tender age of nine. His intelligence is paramount and his village is growing ever more confident because of him. Any abilities he has are carefully hidden behind a mask of weakness.

The world is a regularly twisted place, and now a cloud of darkness is sweeps across the lands with an aura of unease. The armies are prepared for every nation, now all that is needed is a spark to ignite the flames.


	2. Chapter 2

**Here you all go, an introduction of most of the evil guys, MOST, there's still plenty more to go! This is really the same chapter as before, chapter 3, but I redid a lot of the grammatical errors.**

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Ragnell laughed as his opponent fell helplessly into the mud. It wasn't even a challenge anymore. He was simply too good. His jonin instructor pushed himself back up to his feet, brushing clods of mud off of himself. He masked himself to make it look like he was still in charge, but nobody in the village believed the illusion anymore. Ragnell was clearly the dominant personality on the team, even more so than their sensei.

His other two teammates merely sat on the sidelines. Nobody had ever noticed them compared to Ragnell. It was a sour point between the three students, but Ragnell was too smart for them to attempt anything.

Their sensei stood tall again, pretending that everything went according to his plan, but Ragnell saw through his lies. His actual plan had been to take Ragnell down and show him his place. Clearly the man had forgotten whom he was dealing with. Ragnell kept his eye on the man as he turned to his fellow genin. "Note, the best way to deal with a larger foe-"

"Hey! I'm still the instructor around here!"

"And don't worry, I'll give you another lesson in private if you like."

"Goddammit! You're not perfect either punk!" The jonin turned and headed away. "Little bastard." He grumbled.

Ragnell allowed the taunt to pass without comment. "When forced to face off against a larger opponent." He leaned forward on his spear, which was nearly twice his height. "Your best bet is to use their size against them. Most of the time, that means, running around faster than them. But as I'm sure you noticed during the fight." A total lie. He knew for a fact that neither of them had the slightest idea. "When our sensei charged me, I used his own momentum against him. No matter what, the force he, as a much larger man, is able to generate is higher than my own." He explained calmly. "So I allowed him to do all of the work needed to allow me to flip him over me."

The other two just sat there, listening and pretending that they weren't completely lost and dulled to his words. Not that it fooled him. He knew how stupid they were. And it pissed him off that they were on his team. Not that he really expected there to be anybody as intelligent as he was. These two girls he was forced to be around no longer intimidated him, instead they only gave him disappointment.

But still, he wanted as least one or two friends whom he could speak with on a higher level, as an actual friend rather than as student and teacher. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to be able to find any of those.

Why did everybody have to be so f*cking stupid?

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Far to east, in the village hidden in the mist, another brilliant star was preparing himself for his own beginning. Akuma Yokai, the Demon of the Mist, the prodigy, the Zero-Tailed Beast.

Akuma smiled down at the rat trapped beneath his foot. It was panicking, flailing wildly, searching for any hold it could manage to leverage itself out. Akuma allowed numerous opportunities for it to grasp at an escape, little holds that would never actually allow it to escape. They were only to give it the hope of escape, the hope of life. It would never be able to escape, nothing could. He was Akuma Yokai, a name most befitting. Everything that existed was within his power! He might as well be considered a god!

"Akuma dammit!" One of his teammates shouted. "Let him go!"

Always difficult Xai. Akuma sighed. Xai was always trying to disrupt his planning. He was older than Akuma by three years and thought that meant that he wasn't weaker. Wasn't within Akuma's power.

He was an idiot.

Akuma pressed the edge of his foot harder into the rat's throat.

"Goddammit!" Xai pushed forward, giving Akuma a hard shove to his chest, pushing him off of the rat. "You sick twist!"

Akuma allowed the shove to move him, letting the rat up. Xai leaned down and helped the rat back to his feet. The boy was sent on his way back to the village. "Do you even know who that was?" Xai exclaimed angrily.

"A pathetic rat who's going to end up a psychopath, and a serial killer." Akuma's response was perfectly calm and lacking emotion. "If I had killed him, I would have saved hundreds of lives in the end."

"He's the son of a shinobi hunter, as well as one of the most prodigal students in the village. He's well on his way to becoming another shinobi like you."

"Didn't I say a serial killer?"

"He'll end up a hell of a lot nicer."

"Then he's nothing like me." Akuma looked over Xai's shoulder for a moment. "Here comes Shiki."

"And sensei!" The jonin assigned to their squad said from behind Akuma. "Akuma stop threatening people."

"No."

"Figured you'd say that." She sighed. It was the same answer he'd given when she'd ordered him to leave Samehada alone. Now the blade hung proudly across the boy's back. "Luckily, I've got us a job where your particular talents will come in most useful." She grinned. "Some Konoha punks, A-ranked mission." She stared him directly into Akuma's eyes. "But we gotta go all the way out to the other side of Konoha. By the time we'd be on our way back, the chunin exams will have begun. Less than a week away already. I'll leave the decision up to you. Assassination, or chunin exam?"

Xai's response was immediate. "Chunin."

Everybody knew that Shiki wouldn't answer until Akuma did. Either because she was afraid of him, despite her four years of growth on him, or because she had a crush on him. It mattered little. Everybody's eyes fell onto the eight year old.

Akuma actually had to take a few moments to think about it. In the one case, he had an opportunity to go on an assassin job, where he would be able to slaughter all of the targets assuredly. On the other hand, he already had a dozen A-ranked missions completed. What was one more? In the chunin exams, he would have an opportunity to massacre all of the other genin. He would be one of the youngest there, a perfect chance to show off how much better he was than everybody else.

"Chunin exams." He finally answered.

"Then keep the Beast on a tight leash." The jonin joked. She referred to that hunger deep inside of him, the thirst for blood. While only a joke, the warning was also completely serious. "I want you as hungry as possible before you take on the other villages."

Xai scoffed in disgust, hating that everybody in the village seemed to be of the mind that Akuma was the only shinobi worth anything in the entire village. He was powerful dammit! They just needed to give him a chance. He turned and sat down a stone outcropping nearby. They could all just screw off!

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Laughter filled the darkness of the caves. It was always dark in Bochigakure, the village hidden in the crypt. No matter the time of day, how many fires, lanterns, or lights, it was always dark. An oppressive darkness that many of them simply couldn't handle. More than one of the elder shinobi adopted into the village had gone quite insane from it. Those born into the village, knowing no life but that of the darkness, grew up very depressed and sullen. It seemed that those best suited to life in the village were the children forced from their original villages who had ended up here.

Genin squad three was made up of such individuals: Rivvan Draygun originally from Iwagakure, Avalon Hyuga of Konohagakure, and Haru Totaru from Kirigakure.

Rivvan and Avalon were sharing detailed descriptions from their previous missions, laughing heartily at stories of blood and gore. They were both quite comfortable in the shadows and darkness. As a matter of fact, both of their jutsus had been corrupted by it, shaped by it. They were the first of two squads who were to be sent to the chunin exams from Bochigakure this year. The other was thought by equal amounts of villagers to be both stronger and vastly weaker than them. The Shinikage's youngest son and daughter, as well as his pet project. RIvvan and Avalon were both very confident of their abilities, but they were well aware of the power of the other squad, born villagers unlike their own team.

Right as Rivvan finished yet another story, this time being the time when he drowned his target with her own blood, their third teammate walked in and joined them.

Rivvan's grin widened upon seeing her. At least Avalon had the decency to look sorry for her. She knew neither of them really cared. The village raised them that way, it was how they had survived. If their roles had been reversed, she would have reacted the same. Their master was cruel, but he thought himself smart. He directed all of his aggression and punishments at her and her exclusively. He thought it made him look strong and would make the two boys fall in line through guilt. He simply hadn't accounted for how twisted they had grown, all of them, from their time growing in the Land of Death.

Haru realized just how much she looked a mess. Kuna, their master, had only just blooded her nose an hour or so ago. It was still bleeding, but nowhere near as bad as it had. He'd probably left her with a black eye as well, he usually did. Avalon's glances assured her of the validity of her guess. At least her hadn't ripped her clothing this time. She hated Rivvan's leer, and his smug grin when it was obvious Kuna took her.

"Say the wrong name again?" RIvvan mocked, his grin widened yet again. Smug bastard.

"Gotta remember whose bed you're lying in." Avalon joined in. He turned serious a moment later. "We've both made offers. You have nobody to blame for this but yourself."

They were callous, they were cruel, and worst of all, they were right. Not about her screaming the wrong name, like she would give the bastard the pleasure of her voice. She never spoke when she was being raped. No, they were right that it was her fault. They had both offered to murder their sensei, well, Avalon had offered for the both of them. She'd always refused, pretending it was because she wanted to do it herself. And then she always chickened out. She was too scared, and eventually she realized that she was afraid what might happen if either of them killed him instead. What if they failed? What would sensei do? Punish her certainly, but how badly? Enough to kill? Maim?

"Both of you just shut up." Her great reply to their mocking, her voice barely a whisper. It was lame, but there wasn't much else to say.

Rivvan's laughter was loud and powerful. It was several long, humiliating seconds of Rivvan's riotous laughter before Avalon joined in. It was a while after, after her humiliation was complete before Haru was able to laugh on her own. That didn't last very long before she was sobbing.

Her allies were at least polite enough to stop laughing.

"So how did you end up in the tombs anyway?" Rivvan asked as Haru's sobs began to subside. He lay down on his stone perch, lifting a skull up above his head. He stared into its eyes. "Kicked out? Criminal? Voluntary? Something else?" He was cool, calm, callous, even when he was looking death in the face, literally. He epitomized every value that Bochigakure treated divine. A village raised in death, surrounded by death, in a land of death. The only village akin to them in any way was Kirigakure, which had become more and more pathetic as the civil war had raged. They were nothing now.

"A criminal?" Haru laughed at him. She was glad that now it was her turn to laugh at him for stupidity. "We haven't even hit puberty yet you moron." Although her sobbing had slowed, she was still crying. Laughing through tears did bring her sanity into question. Not that sanity was particularly common, or useful in Bochigakure. "What the hell could we have done to be marked as criminals?"

"So I'm guessing that means that she didn't commit a crime to get here?" Rivvan laughed, tossing the skull to her.

She caught it and scoffed in disgust at his antics. God he was disgusting! She held the skull up and faced it toward him. "Do you even know who this is?"

"Does it matter? They're dead." He chuckled.

"She. She's dead."

"Whatever. Doesn't change anything about how I see them." He stopped his laughter for a moment. "And do you know how that is?" He paused for a second, but not long enough for an answer. "Dead!"

Both Avalon and Haru joined his laughter this time.

"I came here because my family were a bunch of assholes." Avalon said, a slight touch of bitterness coloring his words. "I'm from the illustrious Hyuga family in Konohagakure. I was born as the second twin, which means my sister got everything, while I got nothing. She became heir to the head family! She was important to the village! She got everything she wanted! I was to become her slave. On my third birthday, I would be branded and become nothing more than a tool. A few days before that, i escaped. A woman with a grudge was willing to secret me away from the village. Turns out she was actually from Bochigakure." He shrugged. "She brought me back here, probably because I'm a Hyuga and they wanted to bite on the bloodline. Pretty sure some kid died back in Konoha who happened to look like I did."

When his power really came in, it had certainly changed his appearance. His hair had been leeched of all color, leaving it pristine white. His eyes stayed the same as all Hyugas, pale and without pupils, but the irises had darkened just a shade deeper. On his upper arms, just above his elbows were hieroglyphics. They had appeared randomly, but they spelled out Yami, a perfectly reasonable and fitting marking for him.

Haru was next to tell her story. "I'm Kirigakure born, raised for a few years, and then it was off to this deathtrap. I ditched out of the waves after I got raped the first time. Well, by the first guy. He probably only got a time or two outta me. Then I came here. And it ended up being more of the same."

She was well in control of herself now. She wasn't in any danger of bursting into tears. Although she did wrap her black clad arms about her torso, grabbing a spike on the other side to pull herself tight about herself. Her body rattled as she pulled taut, the chains bouncing from the slight motion. To a shinobi from any other village, it was perfectly silent. But to these denizens of the darkness, the slight noise was deafening.

"Now your turn." Both of them turned and stared at Rivvan.

He wasn't even sure which one of them had asked the question. His mind was already traveling back to why he'd come to the village. With every memory, his smile widened.

"I was coming back from a field trip in Iwagakure, my home. While on that field trip, I got separated from the rest and disappeared for a few hours. I was looking in on a few old acquaintances of mine." He pulled his sleeve up to show the swirling black tattoos hidden beneath the soft blue kimono. "You'll probably see a lot more of them when we arrive to participate in the chunin exam." He slid the silk back into place. "When I went back to my group, they were adamant that I should slaughter all of the others. So it ended up with a baker's dozen six year olds lying dead in the street. Well, after that, Iwagakure was kind of a touchy place for me to stick around. The Dark World doesn't play nice. Every interaction I have with it demands blood. Either my own or some I bring to them."

He grinned. "I much prefer making others pay the price."

Their sensei chose right then to present himself to them. He thought he had hidden himself well enough that his appearance would shock them. It failed miserably. Not one had been surprised.

"Everybody ready?" He grinned. Kuna was a right proper bastard. His smile was filled with gaps and he reeked of alcohol. Even just seeing Haru spurred the pedophile in him, tempting to take her in front of the boys, right now as they spoke. That should certainly make them realize just how much their actions impacted his punishments.

All of the genin smiled. He still thought that he could use guilt to get them to do as he wanted. But for that to be effective, they had to have a conscience. Bochigakure destroyed that, leaving husks. Deadly husks, but they lacked those emotions that used to make them human.

Survival in Bochigakure came at a cost. The cost being only those things that made humans what they were.


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright, thanks for sticking with me everybody. This is the last of the repeat chapters, now it should all be new stuff. I just felt like ti would be better if I just went right into the Chunin exam. Hopefully I'm right you know? Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story, and I'll be coming up with another update soon enough. Read and review more than your usual!**

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Siras had a wide grin as he recounted the tale of his squad's last mission. The kunoichi he was speaking to was an old friend of his. They were frequently paired together because of how powerful they were individually and even more so when together. They'd been frequent partners ever since they were joined onto the under the same sensei while they were but genin. Plus, they simply enjoyed each other's company.

"So you built up all of that hype over a cat?" She laughed. "How pissed were they at that?"

"God, they were about ready to attack me instead of grabbing the cat." They laughed. "They didn't think it that difficult a mission. But I didn't mention whose cat it was."

"Oh god you didn't."

"The very same. Red Fury." A very infamous cat around the village.

They laughed some more at the humiliation they must've felt. After all, it wasn't a dangerous cat, but it was ferocious. Her eyes flicked to the clock for a second. Siras noted it, but he made no mention. "So now they're all at home nursing some cat scratches. They're had a rough few missions, all of Kakashi's work, sensei's too. Harumi's really shaping up along after her grandfather. It seems as if every mission is harder than it's supposed to be. I'm letting them rest up for the chunin exams now. No more missions this entire week."

"I'm not taking my squad like that." She responded. "Genin squad six is on heavier duties until the exam."

"Gonna let them watch?"

"Only if they aren't allowed in." She smiled to match him. "Otherwise, they'll be busily kicking your squad's collective ass."

"I know they're prodigies and all, but they're eight! I feel like that jackass Gai, but I at least gave my squad time to grow into their powers before signing them up." He shook his head in disbelief. "I know you. Just because we were trained by somebody who went too soon, and we ourselves were put into the exam early, that doesn't mean that you have to do this to them. Mine have been itching to advance and I made them wait a year, don't kill yours because you're trying to prove something."

"I'm not." She replied calmly. "Mine are more than ready. They're young, but so was sensei, and so were we. And look how we turned out."

The door opened before he could respond. An aide to the Hokage stepped in. "Siras Cortage and Kairi Kayamiya." He declared. The two stood up. "Both of your squads have been found eligible. They've both succeeded in completing ten or more D-ranked missions, and over a half dozen C-ranked, and another one of a higher level."

"B-ranked," Siras gloated out of the corner of his mouth.

Kairi smiled and whispered back. "A." He glared at her.

"Both have recommendations. You're both sure of this? All of the genin are still quite young, especially yours Kairi."

"I'm sure." She said. Her voice was firm, body tense. She was wagering her reputation and their lives, but she had no doubts about it. They were ready.

"As am I." Siras was just as confident.

"Very well then. Shinobi from other villages have already begun to arrive. Prepare your teams. There is less than a week left until the exam."

Asaka Hyuga sat quiet as her brother walked into the kitchen with her. Three thin lines of blood trailed down his cheek. He was clearly pissed. He may have been four years her elder, but as prodigal as he was, Asaka outshone him at every turn. She was a constant annoyance to him. She never meant to, but her natural abilities were too prominent for her to be able to hide her prowess. Tobias always seemed to be pissed off at her.

Asaka attempted to eat her breakfast as if nothing was amiss. The brooding silence from her brother was oppressive, almost painful for her to bear. She hated how much he hated her!

Their father stepped down the stairs, casting a glare at both of his children. Asaka simply stared down at her food, unsure of why he was mad at her today. It just seemed her fate to be subjected to the continually disapproval and loathing of her family.

With her meal finished, she took a few seconds to try and judge the mood of her family, whether they would be terribly offended if she just up and left to get out with her team to train.

Her father was clearly angry, but he was always angry. Tobias was too, but his anger was always focused at his little sister, the ever present prodigy. His glare was like a whip, cutting through Asaka and putting almost to her breaking point. She was about ready to cry under the intensity of his glare. And then her father shared the same glare at him in turn. His anger was because Tobias was always being shown up by the youngest of their clan.

With all of the anger in the room, Asaka was feeling uncomfortable. She took the opportunity to make a hasty exit, giving a quick, "See you later." To her family before she shut the door behind her.

Asaka ran to where she knew her teammates would already be training hard. And of course, she was right, as always. Kizonu Aburame, the most illustrious of the Aburame clan in many long years. A very similar life to Asaka's own. He had an older brother as well, who was also on the same team as Asaka's brother Tobias.

The Aburame was busily directing streams of insects at their third teammate, known only as Cai. She refused to go by any last name. She had cut all ties to her family, first when her parents had been brutally murdered, and then again when she determined to divorce herself from her grandmother's care. So now she was only Cai. But that only Cai was still well enough to give both of her teammates a run for their money despite their clan's abilities while she used only taijutsu.

Right now, with all of the bugs circling around her so furiously, Cai was in no way able to launch an attack, but it didn't look like that was her intention anyway.

Asaka took a seat nearby, watching the speed and reactions of the girl, agilely dodging everything the bug-user threw at her. It got to the point that he began to direct them falsely with his hands, hoping to cause Cai to make a mistake, confuse her and give him an edge.

Cai was well able to avoid it, and his calculated movements were ineffective in confusing her. Although it was reassuring to see the Aburame's mind was similar to his clan's standards. He was easily able to distinguish and coordinate the actual movements of the insects and those of his own hands. He was very talented, the effort of controlling so many different paths and directions often proved to be too much for many of the clan, but he was able to do it effortlessly, and he was only nine!

The Hyuga was much the same, although much more secluded than the Aburame. The two of them were both the pinnacle of their clans and yet they were both perfectly opposite the stereotypes of their clans. Asaka was timid and quiet, easily broken by a show of bravado, and Kizonu was a braggart and a pervert. He was always tormenting Asaka.

Asaka watched Cai as the bugs swept around into a large circle, steadily climbing ever closer to her. Asaka let a small smile flash briefly to Kizonu. Cai was caught now, nothing left but to finish it.

Their sensei Kairi seemed to pop up out of nowhere. One moment, Asaka was alone sitting on a large stone near her training teammates, the next moment Kairi was sitting on the stone right behind her. This distracted Kizonu long enough for Cai to slip through a gap in his assault.

"Dang it!" The Aburame exclaimed. "You know I would have had you!"

Cai smiled. "Doesn't matter if you _would_ have had me. What matters is that I escaped." She walked over to the rock where their sensei sat. "Right sensei?"

"Exactly," She said quietly. "I have good, better, bad and worse news for you all." The three focused their attention on their sensei. "Which do you want to hear first?"

"Better first." Kizonu remarked immediately.

"I don't care." Was Cai's response.

Asaka just shook her head. "Wh-whichever." Her voice almost broke during her statement.

Kairi sighed. The girl really need to grow a pair, she was way too intimidated. "Alright, the better news is your family squad is as well."

"Um, what?" Kizonu spoke first again.

"You did ask for the better news first right?" Sensei laughed. "If it's better, that means that it's in relation to something else, in this case the good news."

"Then what's the good news!" Cai said exasperated.

"You were all accepted into the chunin exam. You're going to be facing off against team Cortage, among others." Her smile never weakened. "I'm sure you can handle your lesser siblings right?"

"Th-they aren't lesser." Asaka tried to reply. Her answer was drowned under Kizonu's response.

"Hells yeah. Nothing to worry about. After all we're the best of the genin right, the best prodigies in Konoha?" He laughed. "There's nothing those other genin can do to stop us. Besides, So and his team are terrible."

"They're not that bad." Asaka tried again.

Cai overrode Asaka this time. "Let's see, Asaka trumps Tobias, Kizonu beats So, and I'm pretty sure I can beat the Honored One. Plus our sensei is better than their anyway." She laughed as well. She belted on her weapons, two razor-sharp scimitars that hung low on her hips. She was incredibly dangerous with them. But more dangerous was her body, she was as strong as a full grown adult, and she would only grow stronger as she grew older. Too bad she sucked at anything but taijutsu. But there were several ninjas from the past who had done the exact same, and they'd turned out fine.

Kairi wasn't afraid for her wards. They were better than the others, no doubt about it.

"What's the bad and worse?" Cai asked, her face a grimace.

Kairi smiled. "You're incredibly young compared to the others, for the most part. Which means that they all have a lot more training than you. Most of them are around your sibling's ages. Thirteen to fifteenish, some are even almost twenty and thirty. But you're only eight and nine." She turned serious, which told them that the worse news was really. "But the real news is who else is coming. Coming from several villages are students just as young as you. They're the real dangers. Their instructors are incredibly confident in them, but the rumors circling about some of them, well, it's not pretty."

"Don't worry, we can handle anything they send at us." Kizonu grinned. _Always confident._

Siras was just as excited to give the news to his team. He went about it in a different way though. His three students were at one of the most famous establishments in Konohagakure: Ichiraku Ramen Shop.

Like her father, and his father before her, Harumi loved ramen. The others enjoyed it, but mostly went along because she loved it so much.

"Good news everybody." Siras said as he popped up.

"You're going to be on time for the next training session?" Tobias said sarcastically.

"Nope." Siras said instantly. "You're all going to participate in the upcoming chunin exam."

"Chunin exam?" Harumi question.

"Oh come on!" Tobias snapped. "Don't tell me the stupidity followed the bloodline too!"

"Shut up asshole!" She snapped back, nearly knocking her ramen over.

"Both of you stop acting like noisy crickets." So demanded.

"We have only a few days left before the day of the exam." Siras explained. "And I'm going to run you ragged. To make sure you're well prepared for this, probably the worst challenge you've faced so far."

"Well let's see, the worst we've gone against so far is what? That last mission with the Crimson Menace?" Tobias asked sardonically, referring to the mission against the demon cat from the forests of Konoha. "Not that that wasn't dangerous." He smiled at Harumi.

"Shut up." They had been the ones who said that she had to hold the cat. She _hated_ cats! They always scratched her. She still had a long tender slice along her side. And the cat had ruined one of her favorite shirts!

"You probably got off on it ya masochist."

"Um, ew!" She shivered in distaste.

"Hello?" Siras interrupted. "Breaking news about you guys getting into the chunin exams? A little important here. Now, of course, at the end it's entirely your decision, if you think that you're not ready for it, stay behind so your allies don't have to worry about watching out for you."

"Tsk." Was So's contribution to the discussion.

"How about it Harumi? Gonna pussy out?" Tobias sneered.

"Why would I? It's just going to be annoying having to watch over you during this." She sighed as if it would be the most annoying thing in her young life. As she did though, she had to wince as she pulled on some of the needle thin scratches on her stomach. That cat had been the personification of pure evil. The little bugger. "But don't worry, I won't make fun of you for backing out."

_Now if only I could find a rival like this for So._ Siras thought, smiling at their antics. Unfortunately, So didn't care enough to accept the challenge, any challenge. It was hard to motivate somebody like that.

With all three of them determined to take the test, he decided to drop the bomb. "Team Kayamiya is going to be taking part in the exam as well."

Tobias's gaze hardened. "Which means that Asaka will be there too."

"And Kizonu." So nearly growled. _Maybe it wasn't that hard to find him a rival._

Harumi smiled. "I guess that means I'm against Cai?"

Siras smiled. "There's going to be a lot more than just those three for you to face. I'm sure there's going to be more than just one for each of you. Although, there seems to be a higher than usual number of incredibly young genin joining in this time."

"Great, so we'll going to beating up kids." Tobias complained.

"You should be lucky, a kid isn't likely to bend you over and spank you." Harumi joked.

"You want me to spank you? Hmm, hadn't expected that."

"Shut up."

Siras took them away to train properly. For perhaps the last time until they were forced to put that training to work.

Ranulf blocked a blindingly swift attack. It may have been fast, but there wasn't much power to it. It glanced aside and he buried his kunai into his opponent's chest. Blood leapt out, splashing against his chest, seeping beneath the mail shirt he word. An oni's mask protected his face from the splash.

Behind him, he heard his sister fighting, giving a gasp as a blade dug into her. It wasn't long before a hissing sound started up. Almost immediately, screams broke out as her opponent felt his skin burn away under her highly acidic blood. There was no one Ranulf trusted to watch his back more than his family. Her kekkei genkai made her more and more powerful as she was injured and grew weaker. Like all kekkei genkai from Bochigakure, hers was well-suited to intimidate, frighten, and most of all, kill.

His own was much the same. But just as Bochigakure and her shinobi were a far cry from the normal of the other villages, so too were the kekkei genkai. Kibako, with her poison blood, was Ranulf's sister, but their kekkei genkais were vastly different, his didn't even involve his blood.

He leaped back out of the path of a sword, but found himself trapped, two thick arms wrapping tightly around his torso. He struggled for a brief moment, but found himself completely immobile. The man holding him was much stronger than Ranulf, who was only twelve after all, meaning he was far from able to escape. His sister was in similar straits, with another shinobi holding onto each of her arms. Blood ran freely down her cheek, falling down to her chest and obscuring her tattoos. Behind the enemy, Ranulf could see the third member of genin squad one. She was kneeling in the dirt, her silks pooled around her, drawing a picture with a sharpened bit of bone.

"That didn't last very long." One of the men laughed.

When he shifted his bulk, Ranulf could spot their sensei. She was lying on the ground next to Ryuka, watching the junchurika draw. It was obvious that she knew the situation Ranulf and Kibako were in, but Bochigakure rules: if you need help, you're as good as dead.

"Now, we're gonna kill you, kill her," He pointed at Kibako, "Then the pretty little cocktease," A finger at sensei, "Then we get to take the six-tailed."

"Question?" Ranulf asked, his smile hidden behind the oni's mask he wore.

"What?" He asked. It was clear he wasn't asking what question Ranulf wanted to ask. More like, _seriously_?

"Why is it that villains always need to gloat and brag? It gives their opponents plenty of time to escape. Seems pretty stupid if you ask me." He shrugged, the motion limited by the massive arms wrapped around his torso. "If you're going to kill somebody, just do it."

The man grew indignant. "Let me ask you a question now. Why is it that you zombies-" Stupid slang the other nations tried to use to insult those of the Crypt Village- "All have tattoos and wear masks? Seems pretty cowardly if you ask me." He mocked. Then he reached forward and ripped the oni mask from Ranulf's face. Ranulf kept his eyes closed for the moment.

"We do this for your benefit, to protect you. The tattoos describe our crimes, the terror within our minds, so you can see the monsters you've created. The masks are to hide our shame, to keep us safe from your ridicule. We're creatures you created. But I need no tattoos, and my eyes hid no shame."

"Then wh-"

Ranulf cut him off. "My mask is to keep my opponents from running in fear." His eyes snapped open, staring directly into the man's own. His rinnegan flared outward as he called upon his other kekkei genkai. Being so young, only a dozen years to his name, it was difficult for him to call upon either kekkei genkai with any speed. Luckily, the man had bought Ranulf time enough with his inane blathering.

Two thick wings made of tightly compressed bone punched out through his back, blasting through the chest of the man holding him with ease. Bone pushed up and out of his body coating him in several layers of thick hard bone like a full-bodied armor. The carapace was almost two inches thick over most of his skin, a little thinner at the joints. But the real beauty to them were the blades. Aside from the massive wings sprouting from his back, there were two katana like blades folded down over his forearms, along with numerous knife-like protrusions sticking out of the bone all over. Each was razor-sharp.

He quick stepped forward and slid his arm sideways, lopping the other man's head right off.

The two restraining Kibako saw the demon he'd turned into and chose to try and outrun him rather than fight. It was the smarter choice. They threw her tot he ground before sprinting as fast as possible. One of them actually made it a dozen steps before Ranulf caught him. The other was nowhere near that far. He reached down a razor sharp clawed hand to help Kibako to her fee, his body settling into place. The thick wing blades folded down along his back, edges glinting dangerously.

He was a demon, the creature that his grandfather could change into, back when the vilage was being founded. The same monster that the Bochigakure special forces were named after. Konoha had ANBU, Kiri had Shinobi Hunters, but Bochigakure had the Unborn.

Ranulf was an unborn in truth.


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, here it is everybody. The new chapter for y'all. I made it extra long and shiny new! Please, read and review. Although even if you don't, I'm still digging the story anyway. I think the first few chapters I was kinda getting my feet wet like this. But now I think I'm getting the jist of it.**

* * *

Finally, the chunin exams. Forty-two teams from Konohagakure, seventeen from Kumogakure, two from Bochigakure, Sunagakure had a massive number this time around with thirty-six teams, a single team from Takigakure and Amegakure, three more from Kirigakure, Jomae Village is taking part in one of their rare entrances with a single team, twenty-nine from Iwagakure, Otogakure is participating with eight teams- more than what anybody had anticipated from such a small nation, and then four from Kusagakure. A total of four hundred and thirty-two genin squad students. An incredible number for a chunin exam. With the new design of the exam as well, it needs to be this large.

Rather than a single village hosting the exam every year, and each village taking turns at doing so, the new style is to have every village host a part of the exam. This is done to promote peace and friendship between the villages. In addition, it allows each of the village leaders, and the nation's leaders as well, allowing them to see which villages were going to be more efficient, and a better value for them.

Of course it fails miserably at the peace part. As do they all.

What the chunin exam turned into was _how many of them can we kill as fast as possible?_

The answer was, a lot.

Every year dozens, sometimes hundreds of genin were slaughtered by the chunin exam, but every year, each of the villages sent dozens of ninjas in the hope that one of them might prove victorious in the long run. Most of the time it was just lining people up for the executioner.

This year promised to be interesting to say the least of the competitors. The day of the exam has arrived however, so there's no more point talking about hypotheticals now is there? All of the genin now move toward becoming contenders in the exam, each hoping to become a chunin. Each hoping they survive the rigors of the exam. Your guess is as good as mine as to which students will succeed, and which will fail. The times are sure to get interesting though.

Shall we take a peek in on how our students are finishing up their preparations?

* * *

Rivvan had a rather large cat pinned to the ground. A fierce red stripe ran down from the top of its head to its jawline, running right over its left eye. It almost looked a mix between someone's house cat and a mountain lion. Almost as long as he himself was tall. When he saw the cat, he'd only seen a challenge in the massive feline, especially when he saw the collar labelling the cat as _Fury_. Rivvan was never one to back down from a challenge, even one of his own creation. It had been seven long minutes of wrestling with the thing before he finally managed to keep the thing pinned, with a kunai piercing through each of its paws, pinning it helplessly to the ground.

The cat of course immediately began to yowl furiously. This noise was loud enough that it had attracted Avalon. The Hyuga had walked into the small clearing where Rivvan had pinned it. When he walked in he said. "You might want to silence the beast."

So he did. A quick slice across the neck, and then the thing's throat was revealed to him.

He pushed his fingers in and quickly silenced the beast. Then he had only time. He slowly began to fillet the creature, slicing through the dermal layer. Then peeling the skin back to bare the muscles. Then he went deeper and began to slowly cut those free to put them on the side. The circulatory system slowly began to be revealed, the organs, bones. By some unholy power, he was mystically able to keep the blood from spraying back onto himself and staining his clothes. It coated his hands and face though.

He was almost halfway finished with his dissection and analysis, the animal making pathetic noises of pain, when their remaining teammate showed up. She saw the pair and affixed Rivvan with a gaze of pure disgust. She took two steps forward and then slammed her foot down on the cat's skull.

Rivvan looked at the blood and gore now spattered over her boot. His gaze flicked to Avalon before he smirked. "Looks like we'd best be careful about our teammate here. After all, isn't killing animals one of the signs of a serial killed to be?"

"Nah, it's cruelty to animals in general." Avalon laughed.

"Wouldn't you say having life torn from you before your time was pretty cruel?" Rivvan countered.

"I suppose so." Avalon's expression matched Rivvan's vile grin. "So I guess she is a serial killer, at least in the making. Does that mean you are too?"

"Of course not!" He protested. "I'm dissecting! It's for research!" Rivvan was laughing even through his statements. "It's not li-"

"Both of you just shut up!" Haru snapped, nearly screaming. Why was she stuck with these psychopaths! They were horrible! She clamped down mentally. Psychopaths or not, they were still the closest things she had to friends. She muttered, "Wow."

"What?" Rivvan chuckled. "Have an epiphany?"

"Yeah, I guess so." She laughed self-depreciatingly. "I just realized that the two of you are my only friends. Well, and Ranulf, but he doesn't even know I exist. All I really have are you two assholes, and a rapist. That's it, that's all there is for me, and I hate all three of you!" She felt like crying. God, how pathetic was she? "My best, well, only friends. God this sucks."

"Love ya too sweetheart!" Rivvan mocked.

"Yeah, sadly I love you bastards too."

Avalon held his hands up to shield himself. "I know you're experienced and all, but I don't know if I'm up for your kind of loving just yet."

"Don't you mean Kuna's?" Rivvan egged on. "After all, he's the one loving her like that."

"I'm not planning to do anything with Kuna. That's Haru's d-"

"Can we please stop talking about my being rape?" Haru said with a disgusted sigh.

"Rather talk about the abuses we all share?" Rivvan's laugh was quickly joined, as always, by his sick compatriot's. This time however, Haru's soft laugh added its melody to their chorus. "So which do you wanna talk about? The beatings? The loneliness? Nightmares? Monsters in the dark? The insults? The psychological trauma of being a child growing up in the darkness both physical and that of having death loom behind you at every turn? The bullying of the other children? There's so many choices!"

"Could we just all be quiet for a moment or two?" Haru sighed again, her patience now wearing thin.

They lasted maybe fifteen seconds before Avalon broke the silence. "So you said you had nightmares too Rivvan?"

"I assu-"

Haru's voice cut through Rivvan's answer. "Oh my god you guys!" She complained aggressively. "You're both worse than teenage girls! Can't you just shut up?"

"Of course they can't." The deep baritone of their sensei sent shivers up her spine. "Look at them. They're both bigger girls than you are." He chuckled, a harsh, gravelly noise. "You've probably got bigger balls than the both of them put together. And I've seen yours, I'm not impressed. One dresses like a pretty little princess," His sneer mocked Rivvan's effeminate kimono. "The other one with a female name?" His gaze fell to Avalon. "What can you expect from them except for them to be little pansy bitches." With no further warning, his hand whipped forward, lashing across her cheek.

Rivvan and Avalon made no movement in response, except for Rivvan tugging delicately at the soft blue kimono he wore. Hell, they were even smiling. No matter what he did, it seemed as if they were ignorant of him, there simply was no reaction. This was Haru's fight, even if she had them kill Kuna, it was still her fight. In Bochigakure, you were only as strong as the demons you overcame. Otherwise you were weak, just like the other villages. Whether it made her strong, or show her as weak, this was a fight just for her, they wouldn't interfere unless she asked. Killing was easy, they'd both killed many times, it meant nothing to them. But calling up the desire within oneself to command the death of another person, that was what was difficult. Haru had killed many times before, but she'd never had a death on her conscience. She wasn't sure if she could handle that, and she was afraid to find out.

Kuna waited as he were expecting a response. He kind of did. His abuses were usually a private matter between him and Haru, the others only finding out second hand. They'd never seen him hit her or any of his other choice abuses. With it happening right in front of them, he expected them to be shocked, to lash out, to yell, to do something! Instead, they just had matching grins stretching their lips, watching placidly as blood rushed and brightened her injured cheek.

A sudden anger took him over and he slammed his tightened fist against her, hitting the same place his earlier strike had marked. The girl was thrown to the ground, hitting it so hard that she actually bounced up again from the impact.

Kuna expected _that_ to wipe their stupid smiles away, but if anything they only widened. The little freaks.

"So, you all ready for the exam?" He asked, grinning at the girl lying at his feet. Rivvan and Avalon shared his smile, all directed at her. "Remember, you're here to represent everything the other team is too pathetic to have. Ranulf and Kibako may be the Shinikage's children, and with them is the monster pet of the kage. But _you_ thre of the children of the Bochigakure. The children of Death. I ask you again to make you sure you hear. Are. You. Ready?"

Haru stood up, taking her place as the team's leader before spitting a wad of blood to the side. A deep, midnight bruise was already rising on her cheek. "He may be a friend. But I'm not about to let those bleeding hearts beat us. The noble prince, the heartless princess, and their trained dog, versus us? The Dark One, the Shadow Fist, and myself? They don't stand any more of a chance than the other teams."

"There you go again." Rivvan scoffed. "Calling him a friend. You said it yourself, you don't have friends! You have me, Avalon, and sensei. Ranulf just pretends to be everybody's friend to keep people nice to him. But he is far from being your friend. Your only chance at having a friend is with one of us three. Nobody else would willingly be seen with you!" His laughter hurt. When Avalon and Kuna laughed too, it hurt even more. She laughed along with them, more out helplessness than anybody else.

"He's got it right." Kuna chuckled. "Nobody wants to be friends with a whore."

"What can you tell us about the competition?" She ignored their insults. All just things she had to deal with, nothing important. Just a part of life as a part of this team.

"Welcome everybody to Konohagakure." He waved them toward the village. "Quite possibly the most pathetic of all of the villages."

"So that means nobody to worry about?"

"Not from Konoha. From Kiri comes the Zero-tailed beast."

"Sounds like a fun nickname." Avalon input.

"Sounds like a fun person." Came from Rivvan. "After all, he's taken a name like a jinchuriki, but either the weakest, or the strongest being the intent. A junchuriki in general is powerful enough as is." His bit his finger in thought. "Judging from you pointing him out as a real competitor, I'd say he's somehow managed to become as powerful as a junchuriki, but without needing to have a beast like that wrapped up inside of him."

"That would seem to be the case." Kuna laughed at how intelligent his group was. "His powers are kept on the down low, very secretive. It would appear that nobody outside of the Mizukage and the highest echelon are privy to any sort of knowledge about him."

Despite all of his faults: pedophile, drunkard, abusive; Kuna was actually quite smart. If there were details to be found out about something he cared about, he would find them out. So the genin knew the danger to this Zero-tailed Beast not from what they knew about him, but rather what they didn't. But that wasn't the only competitor. Even if he was powerful, a single opponent couldn't possibly be a match against all three of them.

"As always, most of the genin going into this are from Konoha. Forty-two teams when last I heard." He smirked. "More like forty-two sets of dinner to chew up and spit out."

"The real question I have, is what about Kumo?" Avalon cut right through to the real problem.

Kumogakure had once been a mighty powerhouse among the villages. But then times had fallen hard. In more recent years however, they had gone right back to brutal training of their shinobi. Making what were essentially super soldiers. Super soldier shinobi. It was a pretty daunting prospect.

"Seven teams, more than they've have able in a few years now. Still, I haven't heard anything about them on the grapevine."

If he hadn't heard anything about them, then even Konoha probably outmatched them.

"That's all you've got for us?" Haru sneered.

Rivvan smiled. She might be piss scared of the man, but she had a feisty attitude. He liked that in a woman. Well, girl. Whatever. He was just glad to see that she was growing a pair.

Kuna however had no such enjoyment. Blood sprayed from her nose when his fist launched her through the air. But he was far from finished. His boot lifted her almost two feet into the air, curled around the imprint of his foot on her stomach. She coughed, rolling onto her side to spit the blood out before she drowned in it. He kicked her again, this time the kick landed on her chest. There was an audible crack.

Even Rivvan winced upon hearing that one. Kuna was a right bastard, but he'd never gone this far in his abuse. Breaking her rib right before the chunin exam? That was a great way to ensure they were at a disadvantage compared to the other teams.

"Let's go." Kuna growled.

Haru's eyes were filled with tears as she pushed herself to her feet. But behind those tears forced from her through pain, her eyes were filled with rage, rage and shame. She had just broken the one ultimatum. No matter what he did to her, she had never allowed him to make her cry. No matter how bad he beat her, how often his rapes, how much of her blood he spilled, she had refused to cry in front of him. And more, she certainly had never wanted to cry in front of Rivvan and Avalon. The scumbags would never let her live it down.

"Yes. Let's finish this." She growled, feeling the bones grate underneath the hand she held across her chest.

Rivvan looked to Avalon. They smiled at the same time, following in her wake.

* * *

Ranulf sighed. "Dammit sensei! What the hell are you dragging us through now?"

Aimi giggled, pressing a hand to her chest, making sure that her every motion was sensuous and that her fingers dug into the flesh there, making her chest seem even larger. "Why would you ever say something like that?"

"We're what? Five hundred yards down? Straight down in the earth?" He sighed. Sometimes dealing with their sensei was like dealing with a child. "Aren't we supposed to be headed to Konohagakure for the start of our exam? The other team headed out what? A whole week ago?"

"Don't you worry about those little freaks." She said, her smile never flinching. "We'll get there in our own time, don't you worry about it."

"And if our own time takes too long, won't we be kicked out from the chunin exam?"

"Sensei has ways of making people... _forget,_ the rules and regulations." She giggled again. "Don't you worry. You'll all be fine getting in. Your father didn't trust you to just anybody."

On this one occasion, she was very serious. Deadly serious. Mostly because it _was_ death to disappoint the Shinikage in anyway. And this was a very sensitive issue no less. There was no way the Shinikage would trust his two youngest children, and the village's junchuriki, to just anybody. She had been on the fast track to becoming one of the Unborn, the villages special forces, when this opportunity arose. And it had just been too choice to overlook.

"Give you two-to-one odds that her boobs are how she makes 'em forget." Kibako responded acidly from the back of the group. Next to her, Ryuka didn't even seem to notice, just staring off blankly.

"Well duh, why do you think we ladies were given them in the first place?" Aimi's voice oozed sarcasm. "We have to have some way of manipulating our men right? Although for now, your own manipulation power is rather limited now isn't it?" Her laughter was mocking as it rang through the empty caves. "I guess you'll just have to work harder at it than I do."

Kibako glared at the sensei but turned away to stare off into the caves.

"Can we just get moving?" Ranulf said with an exasperated sigh.

Aimi smiled. "Sure. Just point the way."

The brother and sister leveled unhappy glares at their sensei, in fact, they might have even been death glares. And as was her wont, Ryuka didn't even seem aware of what was happening.

Aimi tapped one of the skulls on the wall. "This marker was put here to warn people in the village about the _labyrinth_." The way she said the word sent shivers down their spines. "There are at least a dozen different ways out of the maze that have been well documented and mapped out already. And there's at least fifty others that nobody's seen. But as many ways out that there are, there's ten times that many that lead nowhere. There's also all of the _things_ down here that will gladly kill you. Things that humans have long forgotten about." She suddenly turned more cheerful. "So don't get yourselves killed okay! I'll be waiting on the surface. Meet me at the docks if you find your way out! If you don't, don't haunt the village!"

She left them with a wave and a smile.

When the sensei was long gone, Ranulf looked to his sister. "What do you think would be the common thought is we walked in there and then just walked back out? I mean, technically that fulfills all of the requirements that she gave us right?"

"But the village would either think we're weak, or cowards."

"Damn." He sighed, knowing that she was right. Bochigakure didn't like cowards. And there was no way that the Niasr siblings would allow themselves to be seen as cowards. "I guess we'll have to actually go through it all. That's so much effort!" He moaned unhappily even as he started walking forward.

"It's a good thing Bochigakure's so close to Konoha, otherwise we'd never be able to make it in time."

"When's the exam again?"

"I think today." It was hard to time the days when they never saw the sun. It also led to some very interesting circadian rhythms.

"Damn. So we've got at best, probably only seven hours or so." Ranulf sighed. "I hate it when she does this!" Then he punched a wall.

Which woke _them_ up.

Ryuka burst into giggles.

* * *

Cai tugged the long white cloak around herself, the thick material hugging tight around her. Then she tugged the hood up into place, hiding her long black hair. But not all of it, no, what wasn't in her long ponytail was in one of two tight braids that framed her face. Then she tipped her head back and donned a vile looking mask, made entirely out of silver. One more tug to make sure that the mask hadn't knocked her hood out of place, and then she was off.

Kairi was awaiting all of her students when they arrived at their private clearing in the forest.

As usual, Cai was last to arrive. Kizonu and Asaka were already leaning back against some trees by the time she showed up. Asaka had on an outfit much difference than her usual. Now she was wearing a long, flowing black and purple kimono that hugged her body tightly. Up around her neck some of the thin mesh ninja armor was visible. Kizonu had also changed up his appearance, now wearing a medium length coat that hung just far enough down to lay on his thighs. He now hid his eyes behind a large pair of dark goggles. Complete with dark brown trousers, he looked like every other Aburame, except for his bowl cut blond hair.

"Well here's our little emo." He laughed as Cai appeared.

"Blow me."

"Calm down everybody. Remember, today's the day you start your chunin exam. Can't have you fighting amongst yourself before the other teams get a shot at killing you first, now can we?" Kairi chuckled. "Gotta keep you healthy so they have a fair shot of taking you out!"

The three genin sighed. Their sensei was special. After all, there weren't many sensei who told their students that they had to be healthy to die.

"But before we get you killed," She stared at each of them in turn, a promise of pain and death gleaming in her eyes. "How about lunch?"

A loud clang rang through the clearing as Cai face palmed, the metal rings connecting with her mask. The other two genin did the same action, just with a lot less noise. Yep, their sensei was definitely special.

Kairi reached behind her and pulled out a large bag from behind the rock she sat on. Then she began to pull numerous different meals out. Ramen, sushi, yakisobe, curry, stew, fish, all sorts of meals, thirty different types of them. All of them for the three genin. Here was one thing that Asaka beat either of her allies in, feasting. By the time the three hungry genin had finished, there was hardly anything left. Simply delicious.

"There we are." The sensei smiled at her students. "Asaka, Kinozu, Cai, you are genin of the Hyuga clan, the Aburame, and Cai, you are very very unique yourself. You are young to be taking the chunin exam, by all rights, you should still be back in school training. But your parents were all in agreement with me, you're ready. I'm going to let you all know right now. This isn't just another mission. This is a serious matter. It's very likely that none of you will survive, and that's not good. Still, your families all agree with me, you're ready. If you don't agree, let me know and you won't be forced to participate. Asaka, you don't have o do this unless you truly want to."

"O-of course I want to!" The Hyuga protested.

Kizonu's lips spread into a cocky grin. "You know I'm in."

Cai smiled behind her mask, then touched the Konoha headband around her neck. _Were they ready?_ She nodded agreement to the exam. They had to be ready.

"Then let's get you to the exam." She held out a piece of paper and handed it off to them. "This is the address where the exam is going to be held. The exam is going to begin in just a few hours. If you hurry and show up early, then you have the advantage. You'll be able to see everybody who comes in and see where they're from. If you're lucky you might even get to see some of their abilities. Remember, the more you know, and the less you have to reveal, the better off your standing."

The three genin smiled and nodded. "Yes sensei." Cai took the address and they headed off.

The building looked like any of the ten thousand other ones just like it in the village. However, standing outside of it were a half-dozen Konoha ANBU. It was pretty obvious that they were there to prevent the students from causing trouble. All part of the newer agreements between the villages.

With so many villages, each trying to gain even the slightest advantage over the others, it wasn't unheard of for one village to try and assassinate another one's teams before the exams even began. As such, it fell to each village to protect the others until the exam started. Konoha had the best reputation for this, pulling many of their ANBU and most of their jonin back to the village just for the protection detail. They were always very concerned about the good will of the village.

The three genin headed on in and were confronted by a dozen students who had already made it. One of them, a genin from Iwagakure, immediately intimidated them, being an eight-foot tall behemoth.

Cai walked past, her emotions hidden behind her silver mask. She was just as afraid of the giant, but showing her fear wouldn't do any good, only make them targets during the exam. With their ally showing such a great deal of restraint, both Asaka and Kinozu were able to compose themselves.

"Ha, this group ain't look like nothing." Kizonu laughed. "This is gonna be a piece of cake."

* * *

Siras's instructions were clear. _Don't screw up. _The bastard hadn't even bothered to show up! He just left a piece of paper laying in their usual training area, giving them a location for the exam. And of course, his always advice.

_Don't screw up._

No duh. Tobias had scowled when Harumi read the note out loud. Of course they weren't going screw up. So was just the normal So, being creepy and all.

And so, with that wonderful advice from their sensei, they headed off to the exam. They walked by the guardians without even acknowledging their existence. Sure the ANBU weren't making their presence obvious, but the Cortage group went on, seemingly oblivious.

Luckily for them, it was only _seemingly_ obliviousness. They did see the jonin and ANBU, they simply wanted to appear to be less than they really were. This was a double-edged sword though. Their intention was to make people overlook them as not a threat. At the same time though, others now saw them as prey. It was a lose-lose situation. You were either a rival to one of the powerhouse groups, of you were prey to one. There was no in-between.

As the Cortage squad entered the examination room, their eyes narrowed. There were their siblings. And Cai for Harumi. Kairi's group glared just as hard back at them. Not one word was voiced, but so much was said.

_I hate you! _Tobias glared at his sister the prodigy.

_You're worthless._ From each of the Aburame.

_I'm sorry_. From Asaka to her brother.

_Don't die._ Harumi didn't have any real grudge against the other team. She wanted to win just as bad as her allies, but she also didn't want anybody to die.

Behind her mask, Cai's expression was unreadable. Even now, she was, as always, silent to the utmost. She gave no impressions to her opponents, whether she wanted to hurt them, or wished them well.

Harumi scoffed and walked past the other team, beginning to scope out the competition. Right now though, the only competitors who had already begun to show up were either from Konohagakure, or were pretty average looking. None of them looked like really seriously competition. Sure, the huge guy looked like he could really do some damage, but his teammates, well, one looked like an anemic! And the other was nothing special. Each wore their headband properly, which shouldn't surprise anybody. After all, that was just how Konohagakure shinobi tended to be. Harumi herself wore it on her forehead, as did Tobias. Of the three genin, only So wore his differently, turned around and laying on the back of his neck, on top of the hood he wore to obliterate his features.

Harumi glanced to the others, trying to memorize even more details about the team. Just in case they didn't make it. That way somebody would remember them. Cai, in her white cloak, and metal mask, with her forehead protector hanging from her neck. Kizonu, in thick black goggles that hid his eyes, a green coat, black pants, blond hair, brown boots, nothing really special about him. His headband was around his upper left arm. Asaka, the poor girl. Dressed in a purple and black kimono, she looked like she wanted to be anywhere but where she was. Still, she had steel in her, she _was_ here right? Hers was wrapped around her waist.

Everybody had their own look. Even the two Aburame, whose entire clan was renowned for always doing this, and always wearing this, and whatever. All Aburame hid their eyes, all cloaked their bodies, all had the stupid bugs, but here were two of them and she'd never mix them up.

Harumi's eyes fell down to her own clothing. She was wearing her usual bright orange jumpsuit. She didn't even like orange! What was wrong with her? What was she doing here? Trying to emulate her grandfather.

She didn't have a choice though. Nobody saw her as Harumi. They only saw Naruto in a girl's body. They expected her to do exactly what he'd done! What his father had done. What her own father hadn't. She sighed. Such was the curse of the Uzumaki. Even now, her father was still ridiculed for rejecting the way of the ninja.

She couldn't let that happen to her too. She refused to. She just needed to pretend to be Naruto some more right? As much as it annoyed her, it wasn't very difficult. Feign ignorance, be cocky, be brash, bold, it wasn't hard to pretend to be any of those. Actually being them was intimidating though. Harumi had enough self-esteem issues as it was. She sighed again. This sucked.

She took a seat and began to watch as the people filed in. Just the Konoha squads were a vast number. Then there were the horde that came from Iwagakure, and the one from Sunagakure.

* * *

Kenshiro Sai inhaled deeply of the dry, deadly air of the Sunagakure desert. All of the other teams had set off earlier, ages earlier. That was okay. He would much rather stay in his precious desert. The sun baked his body dry, as dry as one of the puppets that stood next to him. His fingers twitched, and the puppets leaped forward, lunging into the sand and stabbing down with their wrist blades to penetrate the body of a worthless rodent, stupid little desert rat. .

Kenshiro reached a hand out and took the reptile off of the blades. He pulled a strip of meat off of the thing's torso and chewed it. A thin trail of the animal's blood fell down his chin.

"Kenshiro! There you are!" His bodyguard exclaimed as she came upon him. "We have to get going."

"Why?" He asked simply.

"What?" Her face scrunched up in confusion. "Why? Because if we don't leave now, we're going to be late!" She giggled. "Then the village'll be disappointed in us. We're the ones who're supposed to be the aces of the village. The exam's tomorrow! We're going to have to travel all night to get there in time."

"Idiot."

"Rozu, why are you talking to _It?_" The other bodyguard showed up, his dark clothes drawing in as much of the desert sun as possible.

"What do you mean 'idiot'?" His first bodyguard, Rozu demanded of Kenshiro.

"The exam's today." Kenshiro had a slight smile on his face.

"T-today?"

"Yeah today." The third genin openly smiled in mockery of the girl. "Kenshiro here decided that he didn't need to be there in advance. He'd rather wait here until the time came."

The puppets approached Kenshiro and pieces began to fall off of them in rapid order. They slimmed down to bare skeletons and attached themselves to him, lining their arms with his, legs with legs, everything but the heads, which folded down onto his chest and back. A always ready suit of armor, and when needed, a deadly weapon, and allies even. Better allies than Rozu and the Kazekage's pet Deygon at least.

He was always better off alone. It wasn't like they really wanted to be around him anyway. Just listen to Deygon, who never called Kenshiro anything other than _It._

Kenshiro smiled. "I suppose we should leave then shouldn't we?"

The three headed out, not one bothering to look at the village as they left. Of all of the teams that had left Sunagakure. Nobody for a moment doubted that the One-Tailed Shukaku, the Sand Butterfly, and the Shadow of the Sand would be first among the teams to return. The few who doubted were already dead.

They left the body of one such doubter in the dry sand, a small strip of his chest missing. Some of the blowing sand stuck to the blood on Kenshiro's chin.

* * *

Akuma's fists clenched as he walked through the doors into the examination hall. So many victims, so much blood! All of it prepared for him to slaughter. He breathed. No, this was more than just slaughter. That wasn't him. That was the hunger within him. He had a much bigger goal that just slaughtering. It wasn't like he was going to just massacre everybody. He had a much bigger plan in store for everybody. He smiled, and it was not a nice smile.

"Sicko." Xai accused from behind him.

"Shut up you idiot." Came from their female teammate. Shiki shoved the larger boy.

He didn't move. Even Akuma had to admit that he looked impressive right now. Not that he was intimidated by the other boy. Even if Xai _could_ kill Akuma, he was too weak in his heart. He hated Akuma with his whole person, and he couldn't even picture killing the smaller boy. Akuma's smiled widened. He didn't even have a reason to dislike the boy and he'd almost killed him a dozen times at least, just for speaking out against him.

The difference between them.

Unfortunately, Xai was the most powerful looking fighter in the entire examination room. It was a little disappointing. In his hair blending into the white fur on his jacket. The white pants he wore to continue the style. Even his eyes had no color, just a pale steel blue. The only color on him was the dark gray eye mask that hung around his neck, and that was barely anything. His hands were covered in his potent weapon. Blade shrouded gauntlets with four inch needles tipping every finger, shaking his hands right now was a great way to lose a hand.

Shiki sighed. She could feel the aggression between the two of them. Why did Xai always have to choose to be so difficult to Akuma? It was obvious that the young Zero-tail was the best of them. He deserved worshiping, not anger.

She tugged her kimono tighter around her and looked around. Of everybody there, nobody looked as dangerous as the Kirigakure squad. Even the other Kirigakure squads looked like nothing compared the the awesomeness of Akuma's team.

Akuma, leading the group, looking as magnificent as ever. With his loose kimono and loose pants, he looked a little larger than he actually was. His chest was bared, tiny as it was. He was so small and adorable! He looked so fragile, so vulnerable. She knew a lot better than to say that to him though, still he was cute! And intimidating because under his open kimono was his forehead protector. _Sewn into his skin!_ It was so sexy! Don't judge, she was twelve! It was perfectly natural to think like that. She'd hit puberty. Even if he was only eight it was fine. Her eyes were locked onto his hand as he reached to stroke the blade of Samehade, missing from his back now for the first time since he'd recovered it.

Even he had to admit that sensei had a point. Walking around with the giant blade strapped to his back before he needed it would just give away some of his abilities. His hand itched to touch the chakra-draining blade though.

He couldn't wait for this part of the exam to finish.

* * *

Ragnell was sitting in the corner, as was his wont. He always isolated himself, especially when he was in a new area. He was shy, and more than that, had a deep hatred of everybody else. He didn't even stand near his allies, the two female bullies that he'd been paired up with. Although, to be fair, Takigakure was filled with them. It sucked.

After the Fourth Shinobi World War, nearly all of Takigakure's male population had been annihilated. Including the children. The worst part about it all was that it wasn't the war that killed them all.

Some sickness swept in and annihilated them. Ragnel himself had been struck by the disease, but through some miracle women, managed to make a recovery. Whoever his savior had been, they soon were denounced from the village as S-ranked criminals. Ragnell survived, and learned of what had happened to drive them away. They called her the Bloody Medic, the poor girl, all because she was originally a medical ninja, and then suddenly slaughtered all of their neighbors.

There was obviously something more than that to the story, but it suddenly became anathema to talk about it. To talk about the Bloody Medic, mention her name, or the name of her sister.

Nobody had ever been able to identify what the disease was, but it still strikes down most of the males who are born to the village, and even those who simply enter the village often come down sick, and will only recover if they are immediately evacuated. Otherwise there's only a one in fifty chance of survival.

Ragnell had already begun to make his plans to find the woman who had saved him and repay her the kindness. He always repaid.

In his corner, nobody even noticed him, and he barely paid any attention to any of them. He wasn't like himself right now. Normally Ragnell would have watched every one of them as they walked by, analyzing them for every minute difference that might attest to their power. He'd also be keeping a tight leash on his partners, keep them from interacting with, well, everybody.

Somebody finally noticed him, and he was brought out of his trance. His eye caught the others and something passed between them.

However, with this connection, Ragnell's anonymity began to diminish. Dozens of eyes soon fell onto him, each putting him into a category, just like everybody else. He watched as a dozen students put him into the prey category, expecting him to be an easy kill. But that first person he'd made a connection with, that child younger than almost everybody else here, with white hair to his shoulder, and a headband sewn into his chest. He saw Ragnell as he really was.

Ragnell could work with people underestimating him. It was all they'd ever done. You didn't need strength to succeed. You needed power. And the first piece to power was not strength or chakra, it began in the mind.

The first of his partners came to his corner and draped an arm over his shoulder. "Raggy boy, time to show us what you've got." Since they'd left the village, where all of his supporters were, the two had grown much bolder. "Grow a pair or we'll take yours."

As he usually did when they spoke, he curled up in on himself, hiding himself in his voluminous black robes that just swallowed his form.

"Little bitch cowering again?" The other one walked up and positioned herself on his other side. "Poor little baby, pissing himself in fear. No idea what to do about us girls eh Jina?"

"Of course." She pulled him hard against her chest, planning to embarrass him against her still developing bust.

He immediately pulled away and yanked the hood of his robe up and over his head, hiding himself completely in the robe's darkness.

"Hey, get back out here you little bitch!" The other girl, Dnae, grabbed his arms and tried to yank him back into the open. Jina reached forward to help in pulling the hood up. Despite his minute size and lacking physical ability, Ragnell was a feisty one and neither of the girls managed to make any progress. Still, they weren't going to stop playing with their little doll until the exam began. Jina pulled a hand back and gave a light punch to his stomach in order to force him to open up a little. Which succeeded.

Poor Ragnell was bullied by his own partners up until the exam began. To everybody else in the room, it just looked like he was even better prey than they first thought.

* * *

Tsubaki watched across the room at her fellows from Kirigakure. The bloody squad. The only team worth the effort of facing for her own team. The team with her rival on it. She glared death at the Zero-tailed Beast. The genin that she had chosen as her own personal challenge, the one she held all of her own accomplishments against. She always seemed to come up short in her rivalry.

Her own team was scattered around the room. The three of them worked well as allies, but not one of them had the same motive for being here.

Tsubaki was here because Akuma was here. She wanted to continue to challenge him. If he became a chunin, she would become a chunin. He was already ahead of her, holding Samehada. He'd made many enemies the day he stole that sword. Everybody thought that he would be punished severely by the Mizukage, but he'd just laughed it off, saying that if Akuma had found the blade, he might as well keep it to do some good with the blade. Tsubaki needed to find herself one of those swords too, maybe the lost blade Kubikiribocho. The Mizukage had declared that the one who found the blade would be named one of the Seven,

She couldn't stay behind for long.

Aerisa, her 'team leader,' sat across the room from Tsubaki. Dressed in bright colorful silks, she was the antithesis of a Kirigakure ninja. Even her style during battle was. She always, _always_, offered her opponents mercy if they tried to surrender. And she always tried to get them to surrender, whereas all other from the Mist would just kill them anyway.

In the front of the room sat the third member of the squad. Hatsu, the Smiling Demon. Tsubaki was very displeased with Hatsu because she had already earned a title like Akuma had, while she herself had nothing.

However, Hatsu was the only one here with no stake in the outcome. She honestly didn't care about becoming a chunin, and she didn't care about the others in the group. Even right now, she was off in the front of the room, making a bunch of jokes with some random shinobi. She was the only one laughing.

Tsubaki wanted to stay on the same level as Akuma, Aerisa wanted to change the country, but Hatsu was only there because the others needed her there.

The girl was an enigma.

Tsubaki wouldn't trust anybody more with her life. The three of them had worked long and hard to make their styles mesh together, each of them using the standard of Akuma in order to judge their own potential against.

It was so frustrating!

Tsubaki looked around at other opponents, aside from Akuma and his team. The twerp in the corner being bullied. God, that wasn't any good. Here at the chunin exams, and before they actual began to have the shit beat out of you. The worst part was that it was his own team doing it, so even the jonin wouldn't step in. Their duty was to prevent fighting between the teams.

The other teams just weren't the effort.

* * *

So many teams already there, and more and more arriving every minute. This should prove to be a chunin exam of legendary prominence.

Long ago, it was enough to simply master your clan's jutsu. The Aburame were strong simply because they had the kikaichu, and the Hyuga with their gentle fist were a near unstoppable force.

The revival of the Uchiha clan was among the first things to change all that. Still small, they began to develop new ways to raise themselves up. Instead of developing their self-destructive techniques again, they now worked more on their other jutsu. Gentama Uchiha is now the only Uchiha known to have the mangekyo sharingan. With so few Uchiha left, he hopes that the evolved state of the dojutsu will soon fall into legend and be forgotten, allowing his clan to grow once more.

With the Uchiha leading the way in developing their lesser jutsu, most other shinobi followed suit. Rather than learn only your clan's abilities, now students worked at a much higher level.

Ninja are constantly improving, and every time they do they older generations fall further behind.

This is the first real generation after this newfound birth of power came about. This is the first chunin exam since every nation took to developing their weapons. This may be the most dangerous exam in history.

Kenshiro Sai, the tool of the sixth Kazekage, much as his predecessor to the Kukaku was, and his partners who are both fiercely loyal to the village, Deygon Getsuyon and Rozu Kanatobi.

Akuma Yokai, the Zero-tailed Beast, The deadly monster of the Mist and a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist holding the mighty sword Samehade. With him, his partners Xai Hozuki, son of the former Mizukage, who perished during the civil war, and Michuzi Shiki, who will do anything to serve her team leader. Also from Kirigakure comes Tsubaki Muramasa, who has managed to stay competitive to Akuma despite his reknown, and her own partners. The calm, and peace-loving Aerisa Nonomura, and the Smiling Demon Hatsu Hattori. Less is known about the third team from Kirigakure, with only one of their members even having his name known: Tadakatsu Momo. More than that, nobody has ever seen what any of this team's members are able to do, only that their every mission ended with perfect success.

From Takigakure comes the Boy Sage, Ragnell Sushai, the product of unique experimentation. In his village he's afforded every luxury and his allies allow him everything. Outside of the village though, their dominant demeanor has come to the front. So instead of their usual dynamic, with Ragnell at the head backed up by his allies, now Jina ran the show with her lackey Dnae, in torturing the young boy.

Iwagakure still has a performance prepared for this exam. While they haven't a single weapon, a shinobi they can put all of their trust into, they have taken a page from Kumogakure. Rather than individuals, both of these villages specialize in producing large numbers of powerful near-equally powerful shinobi.

Then there's Bochigakure. Unheard of a generation ago, when Naruto was Hokage, now a rival to the five great nations. The Shinikage, the Shadow of Death who rules with an iron fist in that land, through threats and bluffs managed to level the playing field even more, using a potential war in order to leverage one of the tailed beasts for his village's use. He assigned his children to watch over her, and then moved onto his next plan, trusting that they would fulfill their purposes adequately. The other team of Bochigakure, lead by Haru, has a terrible past, and many terrible secrets to go with it.

Konogagakure is always a competitor, if only because they have so many powerful clans. With these clans now striking out to try and expand their available jutsu. Such is the case with many of the genin from this village now participating in the exam. Asaka Hyuga, the prodigy of her clan, is trained in both the byakugan based gentle fist style of fighting, as well as numerous skills taught to medical ninja. Her partner Kizonu has managed to grow his own abilities beyond the normal Aburame jutsu. And the last of their team, Cai, has developed her physical prowess well beyond the norm, enduring intense training to a dangerous level. Their rivals, siblings or otherwise, are all also developing much faster than usual. With the exception of Harumi, they all have shown that they possess the will of fire. Harumi still has time to develop, but her time is fast running out.

And these are just the ones you've met so far. What? Twenty-five names? There are many more than just them in the exam, over three hundred of them! But you'll have to take the initiative in meeting them, the ones you know and the ones you don't, because it might not turn out to be so much fun if they have to come searching for you...


End file.
